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Health workers strike for 7th day despite ‘essential’ tag

14 Feb 2022

 
  • Strike continues without nurses after court order
  • Unions claim ‘no patient will be allowed to die’
  By Buddhika Samaraweera Despite the declaration of the public health service as an essential service last Friday (11), the strike action launched by health sector non-medical trade unions continued over the weekend and completed its seventh day yesterday (13). Speaking to The Morning yesterday, College of Medical Laboratory Science (CMLS) President Ravi Kumudesh said that even though the Government Nursing Officers’ Association (GNOA) had decided to suspend the strike following enjoining orders being issued on them by court in connection with the strike, all other trade unions would continue it. He further said that the health sector workers have not allowed for a crisis situation to be created at hospitals.  “It was the health sector workers who cared for patients in the past and not those who criticise our trade union action. We will not let any patient die without treatment. However, if the Government is trying to suppress us, we must tell the Government that we are not at all afraid of them,” he added. A total of 18 health sector non-medical unions, including those of the nursing and paramedical services, public health inspectors (PHIs), and medical laboratory technologists, launched a strike last week at hospitals islandwide, demanding that the Government provide speedy solutions to their issues including salary and promotion-related anomalies. In addition, they had also organised protests in several districts in recent days. The strike action which is ongoing at hospitals islandwide is another in a series of strikes launched by non-medical health sector trade unions in the recent past. The trade unions engaged in this strike had a discussion with Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella on 8 February, but the same had ended without reaching an agreement. Following the failed discussion, the trade unions announced that they had decided to continue with the strike action that they had initiated. Speaking to the media earlier, GNOA President Saman Rathnapriya said that had the Government taken steps to resolve the salary anomalies of health sector non-medical workers when the teachers’ and principals’ salary anomaly issue was resolved, the health sector workers would not have had to launch strikes in this manner. Earlier, health sector non-medical trade unions had launched a number of token strike actions islandwide demanding that solutions be given to the issues they face. In addition to the strikes, several protests were also held. They had also organised a motorcade in Colombo on 30 November 2021, demanding that the Government provide immediate solutions to their issues including salary and promotion-related problems. Meanwhile, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on 11 February declared the public health service and the supply of electricity as essential services after a series of power outages and protests by health workers. In an extraordinary gazette notification issued in this regard, the President said: “The declaration was being made considering the services provided by any public institution that is engaged in the electricity supply and the health services as essential to the life of the community and are likely to be impeded or interrupted.”


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